Vampire Knight – 06

Many years ago, after a particular incident, Zero had apologized to Yagari Touga because he felt responsible for what happened to Yagari’s eye. Yagari, however, didn’t regret saving Zero, and he had told Zero that vampires hurt people because they cannot go against their instincts. Vampire hunters exist to hunt vampires for that reason, and Yagari had asserted that vampires could only be enemies. Zero remembers all this now as the pain from being shot in the shoulder overwhelms him, and Yuuki holds him close to protect him since it looks like Yagari is going to shoot him again. She refuses to let Yagari kill Zero, but Zero then pushes her away because he feels that she’s done enough. Luckily for them, the chairman comes running to halt things before anything further can happen. After getting out of the water, Yuuki questions who Yagari is, so Yagari reveals that he’s Zero’s old teacher. The chairman then sends Yuuki back to the dorm while he takes care of things, but all she can do back in her room is think about how Zero’s body doesn’t accept the blood tablets and how he could fall to being a Level E.

Zero is absent from class the next day, and Yuuki can’t find him in his room either. She decides to ask Yagari about what happened with Zero, but Yagari only reveals that they put him in isolation. Yagari then goes to teach the Night Class, and though there is much hostility between him and the vampires, nobody gets hurt. Yuuki is still outside the classroom waiting for him once class ends, and since she refuses to give up until he tells her where Zero is, Yagari finally reveals that Zero is in the chairman’s guest room. Yuuki does indeed find Zero there and questions why he’s doing what Yagari told him to. Zero starts by explaining that Yagari was his and his brother’s guardian and teacher. Back when they were in elementary school, they had a gentle and beautiful school doctor who became a Level E vampire. Zero had stopped Yagari from killing her because he thought she was still a good person, and the vampire had used this opportunity to attack Yagari, causing the wound to his right eye. Zero is thus ready to accept whatever Yagari says, but Yuuki sees this as just giving up.

Yuuki then takes Zero to his bathroom so that they can continue what they started the previous night. She wants him to drink her blood, and with her right in front of him, Zero isn’t able to resist anymore. Once he has had his fill, he sulks back and calls himself despicable. Yuuki, however, is resolved to suppress the beast inside of him and doesn’t want him to give up, so she urges him to come to class tomorrow. On the way back to her own room, Yuuki runs into Kaname and tries to keep him from seeing the bite mark. To her surprise, Kaname hugs her and wonders when she stopped telling him everything. After Kaname says goodbye to her, Yuuki thinks about how she decided not to regret what she did with Zero, yet she can feel that her chest still hurts. Once Yuuki is out of earshot, Yagari appears to ask what Kaname’s motives are and why he doesn’t tear Zero apart. Kaname simply answers that it’s so that he doesn’t lose Yuuki. The next day, Yuuki notices that Zero still isn’t coming to class, and when Yagari doesn’t show up either, she realizes that something is wrong and rushes to Zero’s room. She arrives too late to stop Yagari from shooting Zero, but fortunately Zero pushes the gun up so that the bullets sail over his head instead of hitting him.

Yagari then recalls how Zero had swore that he wouldn’t let Yagari regret saving him at the cost of his right eye. Seeing Zero like this right now makes Yagari think about killing him, but he urges Zero to struggle until he can’t anymore and tells him not to run away now that he’s chosen the blood-stained way of life. Turning to go, Yagari tells Yuuki that she has to stop Zero if he goes on a rampage. He also informs Zero that a certain woman is still alive, and though he doesn’t specify who, Zero knows who he’s referring to. After Yagari leaves the room, Zero promises Yuuki that he won’t run away anymore, and as Yuuki cries, she vows not to regret.

Geez, they’re really sexualizing the blood-sucking – almost overly so. There was already some of it in previous episodes (like the finger sucking last week), but the scene where Yuuki offered herself to Zero kicked it up a notch, especially with the way things led up to that (Yuuki taking Zero to a private place to continue what they started earlier, taking off her clothes, etc). I don’t have a problem with the sexualization itself, but the way it’s being presented here makes it feel like a thinly veiled attempt to simply titillate the viewers. I mean, did Yuuki really need to make it sound like she was offering to let Zero have his way with her?

I also thought that the entire scene with Yagari Touga shooting Zero was a bit rushed. You’d think that they’d want to build up the tension for such a scene, but everything just happened so fast – for a series whose pacing can be rather deliberate, it felt kind of out of place. The rest of the episode was fine, so I can’t help but wonder if they were trying to cover too much too fast or something. One of the interesting things from that scene though was the mention of the woman who’s still alive. I assume Yagari was talking about the pureblood vampire that killed Zero’s family and made him into a vampire, so maybe that’s a hint that she’ll be appearing soon.

^ @Natsume Satoru – spoilers! You better tag that. Anyway, they only covered two chapters of the manga…8 and 9 of volume 2, so it’s not moving especially fast even if it might feel that way. The scene of sexualized blood sucking was every bit as sexy in the manga and there are a few more scenes to come that are sexier IMO. The animation was also a bit off in this episode.

I hope you guys don’t start this “Zero emo” stuff, seriously you gotta give it a rest. He acts the way he does because 1, vampires killed his family in front of his eyes. 2, he doesn’t wanna give in to his vampire side and hurt Yuki who he wants to protect most of all. How does fighting something you actually can’t control and beating yourself up over it make you “emo” now? Is he crying himself to sleep at night or something?

@Lex
Well, I’m not a Kaname fan, so heh. But for those who’ve read the manga up to the newest chapter (39) it seems that most of the questions have been answered and you have a pretty solid idea of where it’s going now. I can’t wait for more, and if the anime sticks with the manga I hope it does a good job with the ending.

This episode was awesome! I couldn’t help but spoil myself with the current manga but still, the way the anime is going, this could actually be one of the top anime series of 2008. I still can’t decide between who I want to end up with Yuki though, I like both Zero and Kaname but Kaname with Yuki is a bit..err incest, while Zero with Yuki seems to be the same thing since Yuki clearly treats Zero as his brother or at least someone that’s in her family, which he sorta, in an adopted kinda way, is.(This was emphasized in the previous episodes when she was trying to help Zero clear the blood that was on his shoulder. She wished that she could understand more because Zero s suppose to be in her family yet she still knows so little about him.) Anyways~ I can’t wait ’till the next episode which is most likey airing a week from now XP.

The art is getting worse and worse with every episode…I wonder how far will they go with that..I know It can’t be like in the manga(nobody draws like Matsuri ^^),but come on-they’re not even trying..Zero looks like shit,Yuuki looks like a drug-addict ro smthn..I don’t want to imagine how they would draw Shizuka..She has such a dreamy expression all the time..Don’t think it would be the same in the anime..If they even put her in there o.O
Oh,I forgot-Yagariiii <3 *nosebleed* xD

All I can think is that it is about time that a romanticized vampire anime came out with shoujo art style. I’ve been waiting for a series like this for a while – and just after finishing Cpt 39 of the Manga I found out it was being made as an anime! So stoked! And Youwha? – you should have used a spoiler cut…….